More U.S. babies born addicted to opiates like heroin

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - The proportion of U.S. babies born suffering from withdrawal syndrome after exposure to heroin or prescription opiates in utero has more than doubled in less than a decade, a study suggests. Researchers focused on what’s known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, a condition akin to withdrawal that develops when babies essentially become addicted to drugs their mothers use during pregnancy. Nationally, the rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome involving mothers’ use of opiates - which includes heroin as well as prescription narcotics like codeine and Vicodin - surged from 2.8 cases for every 1,000 births in 2009 to 7.3 cases for every 1,000 births in 2013, the study found.